Getting/Changing Font Properties?

[Gary Beene]

I have two basic font questions.

How can I get the properties of a control's current font?
How can I change those properties?

Do I have to use Font New to create a new font, then use it by applying Control Set Font?

I know I can use WM_GetFont to get a handle on the current font. Can I use that to to simply change one or more properties of the current font?

I'd like to be able to display the properties of a control's current font.

I searched through the forums, expecting multiple examples but didn't find an answer. Lots of font discussions, but never quite the one I was looking for. When I don't find something I expect to see discussed frequently, it makes me wonder how other programmers solve the problem - apparently differently than I might have expected.

I read at MSDN that a LOGFONT structure is used to hold the font properties, but I'm not familiar with accessing/changing its member values.

[Fred Harris]

GetTextMetrics

The GetTextMetrics function fills the specified buffer with the metrics for the 
currently selected font. 

BOOL GetTextMetrics
(
  HDC hdc,            // handle to device context
  LPTEXTMETRIC lptm   // pointer to text metrics structure
);
 
Parameters

hdc    Handle to the device context. 
lptm   Pointer to the TEXTMETRIC structure that is to receive the metrics. 

typedef struct tagTEXTMETRIC 
{  /* tm */
    int  tmHeight;
    int  tmAscent;
    int  tmDescent;
    int  tmInternalLeading;
    int  tmExternalLeading;
    int  tmAveCharWidth;
    int  tmMaxCharWidth;
    int  tmWeight;
    BYTE tmItalic;
    BYTE tmUnderlined;
    BYTE tmStruckOut;
    BYTE tmFirstChar;
    BYTE tmLastChar;
    BYTE tmDefaultChar;
    BYTE tmBreakChar;
    BYTE tmPitchAndFamily;
    BYTE tmCharSet;
    int  tmOverhang;
    int  tmDigitizedAspectX;
    int  tmDigitizedAspectY;
} TEXTMETRIC;

You can get a handle to a device context with the GetDC(hWnd_Control) function. Also check out the %WM_SETFONT message.

[Fred Harris]

Logfont

LOGFONT is used with CreateFontIndirect(). A related function is just simply CreateFont() which just takes piles of parameters instead of a LOGFONT type. Here is a program that uses CreateFont()...

'Program For Using Brushes And Fonts
#Compile Exe
#Include "Win32api.inc"

Type WndEventArgs
  hIns    As Dword
  hWnd    As Dword
  lParam  As Dword
  wParam  As Dword
End Type

Function OnPaint(wea As WndEventArgs) As Long
  Local hDC,hBrush,hTmp,hFont As Dword
  Local lpPaint As PAINTSTRUCT
  Local strText As String
  Local rc As RECT

  hDC = BeginPaint(wea.hWnd, lpPaint)
  hBrush=CreateSolidBrush(&h000000FF)         'red brush
  hTmp=SelectObject(hDC,hBrush)               'hTmp holds original brush, red brush >>hDC
  Call GetClientRect(wea.hWnd,rc)             'get size of screen
  Call FillRect(hDC,rc,hBrush)                'fill rect (screen) with red
  Call DeleteObject(SelectObject(hdc,hTmp))   'Select(hTmp) back in hDC -- Delete return from Select(red brush) tricky!
  Call SetTextColor(hDC,&H00FFFFFF)           'Set Text Color To White
  hFont=CreateFont(80,0,0,0,%FW_BOLD,0,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,"SYSTEM_FIXED_FONT")  'Create a font
  hTmp=SelectObject(hDC,hFont)                'Select new font into DC
  Call SetBkMode(hDC,%TRANSPARENT)
  strText = "Hello, World!"
  Call TextOut(hDC,32,110,ByVal StrPtr(strText),Len(strText))
  Call DeleteObject(SelectObject(hdc,hTmp))
  Call EndPaint(wea.hWnd,lpPaint)

  OnPaint=0
End Function

Function OnDestroy(wea As WndEventArgs) As Long
  Call PostQuitMessage(0)
  OnDestroy=0
End Function

Function WndProc(ByVal hWnd As Long,ByVal wMsg As Long,ByVal wParam As Long,ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
  Static wea As WndEventArgs

  Select Case wMsg
    Case %WM_PAINT
      wea.hWnd=hWnd : wea.lParam=lParam : wea.wParam=wParam
      WndProc=OnPaint(wea)
      Exit Function
    Case %WM_DESTROY
      wea.hWnd=hWnd : wea.lParam=lParam : wea.wParam=wParam
      WndProc=OnDestroy(wea)
      Exit Function
  End Select

  WndProc=DefWindowProc(hWnd, wMsg, wParam, lParam)
End Function

Function WinMain(ByVal hIns As Long,ByVal hPrevIns As Long,ByVal lpCmdLn As Asciiz Ptr,ByVal iShow As Long) As Long
  Local hMainWnd As Dword
  Local winclass As WndClassEx
  Local szAppName As Asciiz*8
  Local Msg As tagMsg

  szAppName="Form21"
  winclass.cbSize=SizeOf(winclass)                       :winclass.style=%CS_HREDRAW Or %CS_VREDRAW
  winclass.lpfnWndProc=CodePtr(WndProc)                  :winclass.cbClsExtra=0
  winclass.cbWndExtra=0                                  :winclass.hInstance=hIns
  winclass.hIcon=LoadIcon(%NULL,ByVal %IDI_APPLICATION)  :winclass.hCursor=LoadCursor(%NULL,ByVal %IDC_ARROW)
  winclass.hbrBackground=GetStockObject(%LTGRAY_BRUSH)   :winclass.lpszMenuName=%NULL
  winclass.lpszClassName=VarPtr(szAppName)
  Call RegisterClassEx(winclass)
  hMainWnd=CreateWindow(szAppName,"Form21",%WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,210,100,500,450,0,0,hIns,ByVal 0)
  Call ShowWindow(hMainWnd,iShow)
  Call UpdateWindow(hMainWnd)
  While GetMessage(Msg,%NULL,0,0)
    Call TranslateMessage(Msg)
    Call DispatchMessage(Msg)
  Wend

  WinMain=msg.wParam
End Function

[Gary Beene]

Thanks Fred, for two quick responses.

I'll digest what you posted and I'm sure I'll have a followup question.

[Rodney Hicks]

From help on FONT NEW:

This is the preferred method of creating and specifying fonts in PowerBASIC. Using FONT NEW, you can create a group of fonts, in advance, and switch between them easily using CONTROL SET FONT, GRAPHIC SET FONT, and XPRINT SET FONT.

If the requested font is not available on the computer, Windows will search for a substitute font, which is similar to the attributes specified (CharSet, Font Family, etc.).
my bold

Until you set a different font, the control is going to have the default font as specified in the help. I would create whatever number of fonts with whatever variations that I expect to use and apply when necessary, rather than checking the control to see if the font attribute is set the way you want.

What PB has given us here is rather luxurious in my opinion.

[Gary Beene]

Hi Rodney,

Yep the tools are fine.

The desire I had was to programmatically check one of the font properties to see what values have been assigned.

I could, of course, store the current values (which I assign) in variables.

But that wouldn't help with finding the default values assigned by PowerBASIC. I can't check those (other than what Help tells me).

[colin glenn]

You're probably going to have to assume that the control is using a system default font, ...

According to this program, you're not going to get attributes about the font back after you set them.

#COMPILE EXE
#DIM ALL

%USEMACROS = 1
#INCLUDE "WIN32API.INC"
#INCLUDE "COMMCTRL.INC"

%IDC_STATUS         = 1002
%IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES = 1001
%IDD_FONTATTRIBUTES =  101

CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowFONTATTRIBUTESProc()
LOCAL FormX, FormY, StatusY AS LONG
LOCAL cHandle, hDC          AS DWORD
LOCAL tx                    AS TEXTMETRIC
LOCAL FaceName              AS ASCIIZ * 128

    SELECT CASE AS LONG CBMSG
        CASE %WM_INITDIALOG
            ' Initialization handler

        ' use one or the other, don't matter which control you get
            CONTROL HANDLE CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES TO cHandle
            CONTROL HANDLE CB.HNDL, %IDC_STATUS TO cHandle
            hDC = GetDC(cHandle)

            STATUSBAR SET TEXT CB.HNDL, %IDC_STATUS, 1, 0, "hDC="& HEX$(hDC, 8)
            GetTextMetrics hDC, tx
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmHeight = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmHeight)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmAscent = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmAscent)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmDescent = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmDescent)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmInternalLeading = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmInternalLeading)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmExternalLeading = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmExternalLeading)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmAveCharWidth = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmAveCharWidth)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmMaxCharWidth = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmMaxCharWidth)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmWeight = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmWeight)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmOverhang = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmOverhang)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmDigitizedAspectX = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmDigitizedAspectX)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmDigitizedAspectY = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmDigitizedAspectY)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmFirstChar = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmFirstChar)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmLastChar = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmLastChar)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmDefaultChar = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmDefaultChar)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmBreakChar = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmBreakChar)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmItalic = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmItalic)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmUnderlined = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmUnderlined)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmStruckOut = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmStruckOut)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmPitchAndFamily = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmPitchAndFamily)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmCharSet = "& FORMAT$(tx.tmCharSet)
            GetTextFace hDC, 127, FaceName
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "tmFaceName = "& FaceName
            ReleaseDC cHandle, hDC

        CASE %WM_SIZE
            ' Dialog has been resized
            CONTROL SEND CB.HNDL, %IDC_STATUS, CB.MSG, CB.WPARAM, CB.LPARAM
            CONTROL GET SIZE CB.HNDL, %IDC_STATUS TO FormX, StatusY
            DIALOG GET CLIENT CB.HNDL TO FormX, FormY
            FormY = FormY - StatusY
            CONTROL SET LOC CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, 0, 0
            CONTROL SET SIZE CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, FormX, FormY

    END SELECT
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION PBMAIN()
    LOCAL lRslt AS LONG
    LOCAL hDlg  AS DWORD

    DIALOG NEW PIXELS, %HWND_DESKTOP, "Font Attributes", 261, 190, 300, 250, %WS_POPUP OR _
        %WS_BORDER OR %WS_THICKFRAME OR %WS_CAPTION OR %WS_SYSMENU OR _
        %WS_MINIMIZEBOX OR %WS_MAXIMIZEBOX OR %WS_CLIPSIBLINGS OR _
        %WS_CLIPCHILDREN OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %DS_3DLOOK OR %DS_NOFAILCREATE OR _
        %DS_SETFONT, %WS_EX_APPWINDOW OR %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR _
        %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR, TO hDlg
    CONTROL ADD LISTBOX, hDlg, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, , 0, 0, 80, 85, %WS_CHILD _
        OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %WS_TABSTOP OR %WS_VSCROLL OR %LBS_SORT OR _
        %LBS_NOTIFY, %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR _
        %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR
    CONTROL ADD STATUSBAR, hDlg, %IDC_STATUS, "Status", 0, 109, _
        201, 12, %WS_CHILD OR %WS_VISIBLE, %WS_EX_TRANSPARENT OR %WS_EX_LEFT _
        OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR

    LOCAL hFont AS DWORD
    FONT NEW "Modern", 22, 2, 0, 0, 0 TO hFont
    CONTROL SET FONT hDlg, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, hFont
    CONTROL SET FONT hDlg, %IDC_STATUS, hFont

    DIALOG SHOW MODAL hDlg, CALL ShowFONTATTRIBUTESProc TO lRslt

    FONT END hFont

    FUNCTION = lRslt
END FUNCTION

[Michael Mattias]

LOCAL LF AS LOGFONT 

CONTROL SEND CBHNDL, %ID_CONTROL_OF_INTEREST, %WM_GETFONT, %NULL, %NULL TO hFont 

GetObject hFont,  SIZEOF(LF), BYVAL VARPTR(LF)

Read members of LF. Rejoice. Be Happy.

[colin glenn]

:coffee: on me, didn't think about going after the logfont properties:

LOCAL lf                    AS LOGFONT
LOCAL hFont                 AS DWORD

    SELECT CASE AS LONG CBMSG
        CASE %WM_INITDIALOG
            ' Initialization handler

            CONTROL SEND CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, %WM_GETFONT, 0, 0 TO hFont
            STATUSBAR SET TEXT CB.HNDL, %IDC_STATUS, 1, 0, "hFont="& HEX$(hFont, 8)
            GetObject hFont, SIZEOF(lf), lf
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfHeight = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfHeight)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfWidth = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfWidth)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfEscapement = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfEscapement)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfOrientation = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfOrientation)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfWeight = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfWeight)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfItalic = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfItalic)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfUnderline = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfUnderline)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfStrikeOut = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfStrikeOut)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfCharSet = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfCharSet)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfOutPrecision = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfOutPrecision)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfClipPrecision = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfClipPrecision)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfQuality = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfQuality)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfPitchAndFamily = "& FORMAT$(lf.lfPitchAndFamily)
            LISTBOX ADD CB.HNDL, %IDC_TEXTATTRIBUTES, "lfFaceName = "& lf.lfFaceName

        CASE %WM_SIZE

Replace in appropriate place in above.

For the interested:

lfHeight = -11
lfWidth = 0
lfEscapement = 0
lfOrientation = 0
lfWeight = 400
lfItalic = 0
lfUnderline = 0
lfStrikeOut = 0
lfCharSet = 0
lfOutPrecision = 0
lfClipPrecision = 0
lfQuality = 0
lfPitchAndFamily = 0
lfFaceName = MS Sans Serif

Set as default on my system.

[Michael Mattias]

>Set as default on my system

Be careful with the word 'default' here... if you change the font of a dialog as a whole, it changes the font of controls added thereto.

Not to mention, there is more than one "default" font...

If you want to check various types of defaults, use the GetStockObject() function to retrieve handles to...

• ANSI_FIXED_FONT Windows fixed-pitch (monospace) system font.
• ANSI_VAR_FONT Windows variable-pitch (proportional space) system font.
• DEVICE_DEFAULT_FONT Windows NT/2000/XP: Device-dependent font.
• DEFAULT_GUI_FONT Default font for user interface objects such as menus and dialog boxes. This is MS Sans Serif. Compare this with SYSTEM_FONT.
• OEM_FIXED_FONT Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) dependent fixed-pitch (monospace) font.
• SYSTEM_FONT System font. By default, the system uses the system font to draw menus, dialog box controls, and text.
  Windows 95/98 and Windows NT: The system font is MS Sans Serif.
  Windows 2000/XP: The system font is Tahoma
• SYSTEM_FIXED_FONT Fixed-pitch (monospace) system font. This stock object is provided only for compatibility with 16-bit Windows versions earlier than 3.0.

... and call GetObject() as above to get the characteristics of ALL the 'default' fonts.

MCM

[Gary Beene]

Michael/Colin/Rodney/Fred,

Cool beans!

The last sentence in my post asked about the use of LOGFONT but I didn't know how to access it.

Now I know, and it's an easy to implement solution. Great!

Drinking at these forum fountains is, as they say, like drinking from a fire hose. You come in for a sip, and you go away with a belly-full of information.

Thanks guys!